


Kindling the Flames

by Mahlerman



Series: Inferno [1]
Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-08-07 23:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7734601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mahlerman/pseuds/Mahlerman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was lucky, Jiyong thought, that Tempo had grown arrogant in his success. His own computer was completely unguarded. Smirking, Jiyong activated the camera application, finally getting a glimpse of-</p>
<p>His screen went blank. Green lines of code flowed down the monitor. As Daesung had recounted, the were all the same message:</p>
<p>do_not_change_the_tempo</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kwon Jiyong was a prodigy. He utilized his slight frame and light steps to make him the perfect candidate for stealth operations, and honed the power hidden in his corded muscles to overpower attackers three times his size. By the tender age of eighteen, his kill count rivaled that of veteran assassins, and whispers of “The Dragon” sent shivers up the spine of even the most battle hardened agent. Little did the international intelligence community that the boy of their nightmares hadn’t even finished his training yet. 

Thus, Kwon Jiyong was SM’s golden boy, and there was little doubt at the official agent inductions that he would be promoted to an official solo operative, presented with his pick of the choicest assignments, with freedom and power second only to Lee Sooman, director of the SM command chain. 

Therefore, it came as a shock to the everyone when Lee Sooman announced that the newly christened G-Dragon would be leading and training a new special ops task force. His words reverberated through the deathly silence that filled the assembly hall. Then the whispers started up, and everyone studiously avoided looking at Jiyong, whose murderous aura chilled the room by several degrees. 

After the assembly dismissed, the other members of Big Bang hastily dove out of Jiyong’s path as he stormed after the director. Only Youngbae, one of Jiyong’s few friends and go-to backup during their rookie years, gave him a conciliatory pat on the back before retreating to a safe distance to watch his friend slam open Lee Sooman’s office door.

“What the _hell_ ,” Jiyong snarled, planting his hands on the desk and leaning over to glare at his superior, “was that?”

Lee Sooman assumed a rather put-upon look, removing his spectacles to pinch the bridge of his nose. 

“Please, Jiyong, have a seat before you give yourself an aneurysm,” he sighed, waving Jiyong into a chair. “Agent, you have been invaluable to this institution as a solo operative during your training. You have proved time and time again that you can handle yourself in solitary operations. Unfortunately, due to the individualized focus on deploying you in these past several years, we sadly neglected other parts of your training. Namely, you have never demonstrated to us your ability to work cohesively in a team.”

Jiyong opened his mouth to protest, but Lee Sooman cut him off quickly.

“Please do not try to bring up that debacle with DBSK. Tying up your allies at the base and leaving by yourself to complete the mission does not constitute in any way, shape, or form ‘working cohesively.’”

Jiyong glared at his supervisor petulantly, then asked with sickening sweetness, “Why then, after seeing my success as a solo agent and, ah, tarnished track record playing with others would you try to foist me into another group?”

Lee Sooman let out another long-suffering sigh. 

“Jiyong, you may be a stellar solo agent, but believe it or not, you are not the only stellar solo agent SM has access to-” Jiyong scoffed “-but what we lack is a cohesive group unit, small packs that can accomplish more work than the efforts of a single person. As one of our best agents, I believe you have a lot of potential to lead the next generation.”

Jiyong did not look mollified in the slightest. Lee Sooman rolled his eyes and continued.

“Simply put, my boy, I am getting on in years, and the agency is expanding. I cannot be everywhere at every time, and I need someone, both with personal fortitude and the bearings of a leader to help me shoulder the burden. At this point I believe you have the most potential for this role.”

During this little speech, Jiyong’s expression morphed from mulish to shocked, then settled for satisfied contrition. 

“I see,” Jiyong said, rising to bow. “Thank you for this opportunity, sir.”

Lee Sooman snorted.

“Nothing is set in stone yet,” he warned. “Don’t disappoint me.”

“Of course, sir,” Jiyong said smugly.

Lee Sooman rolled his eyes fondly and smiled. 

“Make me proud, Jiyong. Now get out of my office.”


	2. Chapter 2

 

Jiyong didn’t actually see his group for the rest of the week. He was promptly shipped out after his chat with the director, on one last solo mission before his tenure as a team player started. _Last chance to stretch my wings_ , Jiyong had thought gloomily as he put a bullet through the target’s skull. It was a simple (boring), in and out assassination, which left Jiyong feeling unfulfilled when he arrived back at the training base to properly meet the rest of Big Bang. 

“I feel like a freewheeling bachelor being shackled into an unwanted marriage,” he told Youngbae after his return. “So, what’s my poison?”

Youngbae hesitated at the query. Jiyong groaned.

“That bad?”

“Oh no, the guys are good,” Youngbae said quickly. 

“But?” Jiyong prompted.

“They’re just a bit, um, green. Lots of potential though.”

Jiyong knocked his head against the wall.

“So we have to play babysitter before we can even think about missions.”  
Youngbae grimaced. “Seems so, boss.”

“Wonderful. That’s just fucking wonderful. Anything else?”

Youngbae shook his head. He opened the door to their reserved training gym, and motioned for Jiyong to enter. With the air of a man heading towards his execution, Jiyong stalked in. 

“Go easy on them,” Youngbae whispered as he brushed past. “They’re fond of you, for some ungodly reason.”

Jiyong grunted noncommittally, eyeing the two kids sprawled on the wrestling mat.

“Attention!” he barked. Youngbae dutifully saluted, and the two rookies scrambled up, one of them nearly falling over himself in his haste to obey. _Suck up,_ Jiyong thought unkindly. 

“Kang Daesung and Lee Seunghyun, I take it?” 

“Yes, sir!” shouted Suck Up, echoed less enthusiastically by his companion.

“Well, noobs, from today on, I own your asses. You are accountable to me and me alone. If you need something, tell Youngbae and I’ll get back to you. Watch yourselves and remember that your actions reflect directly on me.”

Suck Up looked like he was going to piss himself from either fear or excitement. The other one blinked bemusedly.

“Kid, wipe that disgusting look off your face,” Jiyong snapped at Suck Up. Suck Up practically went into hysterics.

“I’m Lee Seunghyun, sir, codename Seungri, sir!” he chirped breathlessly. “Second year trainee agent, specializing in tactical infiltration and assault, sir! _I’m a huge fan of yours, sir!_ ”

“What in the fresh hell…?” Jiyong muttered. He could hear Youngbae’s barely contained snickers behind him. “Well, just keep in in your pants, noob.”

He looked at the other one. 

“You got any secret fetishes involving my person that I should know about, Daesung?”

Daesung flashed an unsettlingly beatific smile.

“Just a healthy admiration, sir. Though I don’t blame Seungri for being so excited to work with a legend.”

Jiyong shot a long-suffering glance at Youngbae, who offered a smirk in return, the bastard. Seunghyun, unable to contain himself, started shrieking at Daesung. 

“He said your name ohmigod!!!!!! Why didn’t he say mine?? Ugh, I’m soooo jealous…”

***

They worked well together, Jiyong grudgingly admitted a year later. Youngbae was a solid mass of sheer, dependable power, Daesung was shaping up to be a peerless marksman, and despite his puppy-like and overzealous personality “Seungri,” as Seunghyun liked to refer to himself, was one of the craftiest, smoothest liars Jiyong had ever met.

Surprisingly, they even got along. Or rather, all of them were able to tolerate and look past Jiyong’s pissy personality when he was in a snit and Jiyong trusted their abilities and decisions, and made a concerted effort not to blow up _too_ much when they made mistakes. It was practically friendship, Jiyong commented to Youngbae bemusedly. Youngbae staggered back in mock horror, gasping “It has feelings!”

Of course, it was almost too good to last. Their third official mission went straight to hell, and Big Bang only narrowly managed to extract themselves without any severe maiming. It was Seungri’s turn manning the tech and comms, a duty which rotated between them every mission. Though none of them were experts, they had all gone through the grueling course in their training and could handle standard missions. 

Unfortunately, their mission had skewed far beyond “standard,” resulting in Jiyong staggering off the base’s helipad, face contorted with fury and an unconscious Daesung slung across his shoulders. 

After depositing Daesung on the waiting stretcher and barking at Youngbae to follow him to the medical bay, Jiyong stormed into the comm room where a terrified Seungri was waiting. The pale glow from the multiple monitors cast Jiyong in an icy silhouette, illuminating the ragged scare marring his cheek and enhancing the murderous glint in his eyes. He allowed the intimidating image to sink in before he started bellowing. 

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? DAESUNG NEARLY DIED BECAUSE YOU, LIKE A ROOKIE IDIOT DIDN’T THINK TO DISABLE THE ALARMS!”

“There were layers of encryption on those things!” Seungri shrieked, scrambling back in his chair as Jiyong approached. “How the hell was I supposed to crack them in fifteen minutes? My specialization is interpersonal espionage, not professional tech operating!”

“Multi-layer encryption cracking was a key part of the basic training exam, and exam that I know you received a perfect score on,” Jiyong seethed. “I put you on tech this rotation because you’re the only one who knows how to do it.”

A highly uncomfortable expression flitted across Seungri’s face before it smoothed out into a reproachful glare. Jiyong narrowly clamped down a scream.

“Agent Lee Seunghyun,” he hissed, grabbing Seungri’s lapels and lifting him clean out of his chair, “did you or did you not receive full marks on the level 10 tech exam when you were a trainee?”

“I did,” Seungri ground out.

Jiyong pressed his face within an inch of Seungri’s.

“Now, Agent, did you or did you not take that exam yourself?”

Seungri studiously avoided Jiyong’s eyes, a rather impressive feat considering ninety percent of his vision was occupied by Jiyong’s eyes. 

“ANSWER ME,” Jiyong screeched, slamming Seungri into the edge of the desk.

“I-I-I,” Seungri spluttered, “I may have had help.”

“Go on,” Jiyong breathed, applying pressure to Seungri’s sternum.

“W-Well, I always had some trouble with the tech exams, a-and I was worried it would hold me back from graduating, and I always wanted to be a field agent, ever since I was-”

“Spare me your sordid backstory,” Jiyong snarled. “How did you cheat the test?”

A part of Jiyong felt just slightly vindicated as he watched Seungri squirm. Back in the day, perfect scores in the tech exams also eluded him, and Jiyong never liked being second best.

“Daesung did it too!” Seungri shrieked. “As well as half the class. Not all of us can score as high as you without help, hyung.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

Jiyong released Seungri and stalked out of the room. Daesung should be awake in a few hours.


	3. Chapter 3

Daesung woke to the numb feeling of morphine, the sterile smell of the medical wing, and the sight of Jiyong sitting at his bedside. Daesung would have been touched at his fearless leader’s concern, but he knew better, even without the stormy glare in Jiyong’s eyes, the wicked gleam of his canines as he opened his mouth-

“So I hear you cheated through your Tech 10 class.”

Ah, Seungri must have tattled, the little snitch. Daesung couldn’t blame him though; Jiyong was scary when he was being nice, so an enraged Jiyong was truly a sight to see. From a safe distance, preferably with several layers of defensive separation, of course.

“I’m feeling well, thanks,” Daesung rasped drily. Jiyong’s glare intensified. Daesung sighed.

“Didn’t Seungri already divulge all the relevant intel already? I don’t understand what you want from me.”

Jiyong snorted.

“I trust your abilities to deliver crucial facts in a succinct manner. Also, the little shit looked like he was going to piss himself if I interrogated him any longer.”

“Wow, does the Dragon actually care about the feelings of his peers?” Daesung gasped in mock surprise.

Jiyong rolled his eyes.

“The Dragon doesn’t want to get bodily fluids on his new boots. Also you’re hopped up on all the good meds so you’ll spill easier.”

Daesung grinned lazily. 

“What do you want me to say? We were dumb kids, obsessed with grades, looking for a shortcut in an impossible class. When a golden ticket came along, of course we jumped on it. It’s not like we haven’t learned better since then, and we obviously are still competent technicians. Hyung, I know even you can’t always crack a multi-layer encryption, especially with the time limit we were working on. This isn’t Seungri’s fault.”

Jiyong’s lips thinned and Daesung quickly tried to backtrack, before Jiyong held up a hand and slumped back in his chair. 

“I know,” he said quietly, the steel gone from his voice. “We’re a great group. We have power, stealth, tactics, you name it, but we don’t have a solid backup monitoring our moves and catching our mistakes. We need someone to smooth things over behind the scenes, and we can’t afford to keep leaving one person whose skills we need in the field.”

Daesung hummed sympathetically. 

“You think our cheat sheet dealer from tech training is our missing link?” 

Jiyong nodded.

“Tell me about him.”

 

_Siwon had heard about him from a friend of a friend of a friend. Siwon used his services in secret for two weeks, before finally breaking down and gloating to Donghae about his new ‘guardian angel.’ Of course, Donghae had to tell Eunhyuk, who had let it slip to Heechul, who promptly informed the entire class._

_For a price, Siwon’s guardian angel would hack the teacher’s server after the assignments had been submitted, then correct botched questions and fill in blank ones. The higher the requested grade, the higher the price._

_Daesung, who wasn’t flush with cash but was failing, paid twenty-five dollars a test to bump his grade up to a C-_

“You were FAILING?”

“Shut up, Jiyong, we can’t all be as perfect as you.”

- _and eventually stopped once he independently mastered the material, thank you very much. But, Seungri, ever the perfectionist had forked up ten thousand dollars for a perfect score on his final exam. Stupid rich boys and their real estate mogul parents._

_No one knew who this guardian angel really was. Occasionally, he (she? it?) left short messages concerning fees and payment methods that flitted across the screens of their personal computers, then disappeared without a trace. The drop locations for payments changed every time, dotting across the city, in shrub, the knot of a tree, or behind an old lady’s mailbox._

_Eventually their savior inspired a new moniker for himself. Junsu had once refused to pay for services rendered, doubting that the hacker would notice a small dent in the sizable cash flow he was receiving from the student body via various public bathrooms. During the next test, Junsu’s screen went black halfway through, before filling up with green lines of code. Each line held the same message:_

do_not_change_the_tempo

_Tempo, as he was then known, promptly received twice the debt Junsu owed. Junsu’s computer went back to normal the following day, though he could never buy a grade from Tempo again. Poor bugger ended up getting a 39% on the final exam, and subsequently had to repeat Tech 10 two more times._

“That’s it?”

“Afraid so, hyung.”

“Hmmm.”

“You know, Jiyong-hyung, the last time you had that look on your face, Seungri ended up tied naked to the training room rafters.”

“It built character. And please, we both know he enjoyed it.”   


	4. Chapter 4

It was turning out to be surprisingly easy to track the mysterious Tempo down. Jiyong hacked the accounts of the entire Tech 10 class; it wasn’t thirty minutes before a message crawled across the bottom of one of the screens. 

_83%-$175.00_

Jiyong clicked on it, just to test the waters. Predictably, it vanished.

Jiyong opened up the backlog of operations. There was no trace of the message, the usual list of internet browser activity, word processing and gaming applic-wait. Jiyong had been monitoring the screens for the past half hour, and this one had been solely playing solitaire for the entire duration. They hadn’t touched the internet. Yet, there was a log of browser activity ten minutes ago. _Got you_ , Jiyong smirked to himself. 

Tempo’s methods were incredibly elegant, Jiyong marveled. He had used the browser on the computer to download a file, causing the message to start playing after a ten minute delay. After the message was clicked on, thus confirming its reception, the file self-destructed and somehow wiped all records of it clean from the activity log and hard drive. _Clever,_ Jiyong mused, _but careless_. Tempo was used to dealing with incompetent kids begging for his help, too preoccupied to track him down. He failed to properly erase the site address where the messaging file was downloaded from.

Exploiting this oversight, Jiyong traced it back through several bounced servers before alighting on the terminal. He wrote down the IP address for later reference, and tucked it into his pocket.

It was lucky, Jiyong thought, that Tempo had grown arrogant in his success. His own computer was completely unguarded. Smirking, Jiyong activated the camera application, finally getting a glimpse of-

His screen went blank. Green lines of code flowed down the monitor. As Daesung had recounted, the were all the same message:

_do_not_change_the_tempo_

Jiyong groaned in frustration, weaving his hands through his hair. It was dry and brittle from too many bleachings, and slid roughly through his fingertips. 

Then, the screen went dark again. Two lines popped up.

_nice_hair_bro_

_did_you_glue_a_dead_albino_skunk_to_your_head_

Cursing, Jiyong slammed a hand over the camera set on the top of his monitor. 

_too_late_ , the screen taunted.

_turnaround_is_a_bitch_;)_

_props_for_getting_this_far_though_

_looks_like_you_do_not_need_my_help_after_all_

_our_business_is_concluded_mr_kim_kibum_

Jiyong’s computer let out a high pitched whine, before the screen went dead. Something leaked onto his desk, eating away at the wood. Jiyong shrieked and toppled out of his chair. Further examination (conducted a safe distance away) revealed that, god know’s how, his hard drive had melted.

* * *

Seungri heard the enraged scream from down the hall, followed by a string of muffled obscenities. They were quickly proceeded by the thuds of encroaching footsteps, and then Seungri finally came to his senses and leapt out from the doorway, just as Jiyong barreled through and thrust a scrap of paper into his chest.

“Track down this IP address. I need to know location, resident, who they are, what they do, who their families, when they eat and sleep, any and every detail of their lives,” Jiyong snarled.

Seungri gaped dumbly at Jiyong.

“MOVE,” Jiyong screeched, aiming a kick at Seungri’s backside. 

“I’m moving, I’m moving!” Seungri yelled as he scrambled to his computer. “Calm down hyung, you’re starting to look like a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.” He gestured at Jiyong’s purpling face and tufted bleached strands standing on end. 

“WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERYONE KEEP BANGING ON ABOUT MY HAIR,” Jiyong roared, wrapping Seungri in a headlock.

“I’m sorry, Jesus Christ!” Seungri shrieked. “I can’t track this down if you’re trying to kill me!”

Jiyong reluctantly released him as Daesung and Youngbae walked into the room. 

“What in the fresh hell is going on?” Youngbae asked, raising his eyebrows at Jiyong and Seungri’s disheveled states. “If you’re having hate-sex at least have the decency to close the door.”

“If only,” Seungri sighed. He quickly backtracked at Jiyong’s murderous glare. “I mean, I don’t know! He just barged in and started attacking me!”

“Doesn’t mean its _not_ hate-sex,” Daesung muttered in Youngbae’s ear.

“I can HEAR YOU,” Jiyong hissed, puffing up indignantly. Then, he was reminded of Tempo’s skunk analogy, and purposefully deflated. He sighed and threw himself down on Seungri’s cot.

“How the hell does someone remotely melt a hard drive?” he groaned. 

“That doesn’t sound possible,” Youngbae said skeptically. Jiyong recounted his encounter with Tempo. 

“At least he still thinks you’re the student whose account you hacked,” Daesung pointed out.

“Thank god for small miracles,” Youngbae muttered. “Why the hell were you even poking around Tempo in the first place? Anyone with half a brain knows that’s just asking to get fucked over.”

“Fuck off, Youngbae,” Jiyong snapped. “I had important files on that computer and now they’re all a puddle of goo melting through my desk.”

“That’s what happens when you poke the bear,” Seungri quipped. 

Jiyong gave a halfhearted swing at his head.

“I’m going to find him,” he seethed, “and I’m going to make him pay.”

“And thus his descent into insanity begins,” Youngbae sighed. “Lovely.”

He continued to mutter to himself as he left the room. Jiyong closed his eyes and started plotting. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Jiyong was shaken awake by Seungri.

“I have some information,” he said, “but you’re not going to like it.”

“Just spit it out,” Jiyong sighed.

“The address is located in the produce district in the southern quarter of the city. It’s coming from an apartment complex, Unit 34B, owned by Ms. Kim Jiwon.”

“Tempo’s a girl?” Jiyong asked. “Wow, bitch.”

“Mmm, not necessarily,” Seungri replied. “Kim Jiwon died five years ago. Whoever’s in that apartment now could be anyone.” He handed Jiyong a page of information.

Jiyong scanned the paper. A wolfish grin slid onto his face as he got up and made for the door.

“Where are you going?” Seungri called after his retreating figure. “It’s one in the morning!”

“Cutting my hair,” Jiyong responded, disappearing into the shadows. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when u think ur going to post regularly...SIKE  
> also if u know anything about comp sci or how computers work...sorry lol :)


	5. Chapter 5

Kwon Jiyong had been in SM’s capital city exactly three times in his life. The first time, Jiyong was seven. Born illegitimately to a high-powered bureaucrat, Jiyong had spent his early days sequestered in his family’s summer home in the countryside, forbidden from appearing in the public eye. On his seventh birthday, his nanny secretly took him into the city for a day trip, showing him through the chaotic streets of the meatpacking district. His second time came at age ten, when his academic success and inclination for sports attracted the attention of military recruiters. He was accepted into a pilot program, meant to train secret agents younger, faster, and better. The head of the program, up-and-coming politician Lee Sooman, took Jiyong to his father’s office in the city’s downtown, where he signed away his guardianship of his son to the state with a clinical precision. The measured glance at Jiyong that said, “do _not_ disappoint me” was the last time Jiyong ever saw his father. The third time, Jiyong was fourteen. After completing a particularly grueling Tech 10 exam, Youngbae coerced him into going to the city to celebrate, and somehow he ended up in the red light district trying to fend off three very aggressive hookers. 

These brief forays into the city had left a very distinct impression of a lively, bustling metropolis. Thus, Jiyong was slightly off-put to see how dead the produce district was. The streets were grimy and deserted, storefronts boarded up and heavily graffitied. The only signs of life were the beggars hunched in the alleyways, who drew back at the sight of the military insignia on his jacket. Jiyong quickened his pace, skirting around a line of dumpsters before emerging at a run-down apartment complex.

At a second glance, the apartment complex wasn’t just run-down; it looked downright abandoned. Numerous windows were boarded up, and the metal tags labeling the wall of mailboxes were either scratched out or worn out beyond legibility. The boxes themselves had all rusted shut. Inside, the halls were dark, illuminated solely by the watery rays of sunlight that were able to push through the cracks in the boards, illuminating pieces of broken glass strewn across the floor. Jiyong was beginning to doubt Seungri’s information. Tempo was fleecing enough cash off all the tech trainees to live in a , he should have his pick of any apartment in the city, and he chose _here_? 

Luckily for Seungri, Tempo did indeed seem to be living there. Jiyong spotted at least three security cameras tucked into the shadows of 34B’s hallway. Careful to stay in the cameras’ blind spots, he discreetly rolled a small round ball along the wall, waiting until it caught in 34B’s doorframe before turning around and leaving. Five minutes later, he crashed through the window connected to the back fire escape, gun trained on the overweight man seated at the kitchen table. The man looked up, seemingly unperturbed, set down his half-eaten donut, closed his newspaper, and sighed. 

“The meth man is one more floor up, dude. Jesus, this is at least the fifth time this week.”

Jiyong snorted and jammed his gun into the man’s forehead. “Nice try, but I’m not here for the meth guy. I’m here for you.”

Before Jiyong could blink, the man whipped a pistol from his fluffy pink bathrobe and poked it into Jiyong’s stomach.

“Most people have the decency to knock,” he said calmly, leveling a reproachful glare at Jiyong. “Sit down.”

Jiyong sat down opposite to the man, gun still trained on him.

“At the risk of sounding clichéd, I’ve been expecting you,” the man continued. “Donut?” he asked, producing a box of chocolate glazed and waving it at Jiyong.

“Um,” Jiyong said. “What?”

“You know what a donut is, right?” the man said, looking shocked. “I mean, they’ve technically been illegal for plebs like me since the rationing system was instated, but a high level assassin like you must be able to enjoy the luxuries we commoners are denied.”

Slowly, Jiyong holstered the gun and took a donut. The man smiled brightly and tucked his gun back into the pocket of his bathrobe. 

“Glad we were able to reach an understanding,” he continued, setting the box down and picking up his own half-eaten donut. “Now, what can I do for Mr. G-Dragon himself?”

Jiyong studied the man. His face was round, his expression cheerfully cute, but his eyes were hard and flat. Tempo had the eyes of a soldier. Jiyong blinked, temporarily thrown off guard. Then he smiled. 

“You damaged important hardware when you hacked my computer,” he said smoothly. “I’m afraid that’s a breach of national security, and I’ll have to take you in for that.”

“You came all the way out here to tell little old me that in person? What a sweetheart,” Tempo cooed. Then, there was a loud bang and the entire kitchen filled with an acrid black smoke. Jiyong’s smile widened, as he pulled his shirt over his mouth, listening to Tempo scramble towards the front door. Jiyong carefully inserted two rubber earplugs, then detonated the sonic bomb he planted outside the door earlier. He couldn’t hear Tempo’s scream of pain and surprise, but he did find him minutes later curled up in the doorway, clutching his head and whimpering.

* * *

 

The first thing Choi Seunghyun felt when he came to was an persistent, grating ringing in his ears. The next thing was the soreness in his shoulders, presumably caused by his hands, which were cuffed together behind him. Oh dear. This was not good. Seunghyun finally dared to open his eyes, only to be met with a glaring pair of eyes two inches from his face. Seunghyun let out a very _manly_ shriek and almost fell off his chair. 

“The sleeping beauty awakes,” the man in front of Seunghyun intoned. Seunghyun eyed him warily, momentarily drawing a blank, then started panicking in earnest as the his memories of their previous encounter flooded back. Of all the people to piss off, he thought, his idiot ass had to piss off the nation’s top assassin. After holding the fates of so many assassin trainees inhis hands, his ego had inflated beyond his means. He should have just cut the damn connection when he realized the person who hacked Kim Kibum’s connection was _the_ G-Dragon, but _no_ , his damn hubris prompted him to poke the dragon in its eye, so to speak. He had thought he was being clever, hadn’t even bothered to conceal his IP properly. Now, he was probably going to pay by spending the rest of his life in a gulag somewhere in the desert accompanied only by his own, miserable-

“So,” G-Dragon said, snapping his fingers in front of Seunghyun, jerking him out of his daze. “You’re quite the mystery man.”

Seunghyun stared, bemused. G-Dragon continued. 

“SM has probably the most extensive citizen registry in the world. There’s no one the government doesn’t know about. Fingerprints, facial recognition, DNA sequencing-we have it all. But why, Mr. Tempo, do our records indicate that you don’t exist?”

Seunghyun opened his mouth to reply, probably some involuntary smart-ass comment likely to get his idiot self even more killed, but G-Dragon held up a finger and forestalled Seunghyun. 

“One option: you were born under an extensive network of people hiding from the government and simply raised without any identification. Now this is almost impossible, given how tightly population growth has been controlled in the past century. Option two: you hacked the citizen database and erased yourself, which is much more likely given your technological expertise.”

G-Dragon, inched even closer to Seunghyun, closing a hand around his throat and breathing lightly in his left ear. Seunghyun furiously tried to tamp down a tickle-induced giggle.

“So,” G-Dragon breathed, “who are you really?”

“What’s it to you, assassin man?” Shit. Why was he like this? 

Surprisingly, G-Dragon laughed heartily and sat back in his chair.

“I may be pissed that you melted my computer,” he said, smiling disarmingly at Seunghyun, “but I actually was more impressed by _how_ you were able to do it. Those kinds of skills are hard to find, and I just so happen to be looking for someone like you for my team.”

“Your _team_ ,” Seunghyun said warily.

“Yes, my assassin team that lacks the necessary technological backup to properly carry out our missions,” G-Dragon replied.

“Can I say no?” 

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life wasting away in the desert?”

Well, at least he had options now. 

“Choi Seunghyun, nice to meet you. I’d shake your hand, but you seem to have handcuffed them.”

G-Dragon smiled, and reached around to free Seunghyun’s hands.

“Kwon Jiyong. Welcome to the team.”


	6. Chapter 6

Choi Seunghyun. Jiyong wondered if that was even his real name. Well, he supposed it didn’t matter really, as long as Seunghyun followed orders and didn’t try anything funny. He had tutted mockingly when Jiyong persisted questioning him about his registry file. He was unbelievably snarky once the small semblance of fear wore off, even worse than Seungri, who had been surprisingly recalcitrant towards Seunghyun. He whined that he was stealing his name (stupid really, none of them ever called Seungri by his legal name), and that Seunghyun was stealing Jiyong’s attention away from him (probably true; Jiyong found himself enjoying Seunghyun’s company a lot more than Seungri’s, though that wasn’t a particularly high standard of comparison). Seungri’s whining persisted for a week, he suddenly woke up one morning to find his desktop set permanently to a gif of Jiyong blowing a kiss, heavily layered with hot pink, glittery filters. If pressed, Jiyong would have insisted that the image was completely photoshopped, obviously, while trying to keep a straight face at the memory of Seunghyun cornering him with a cheeky grin and a camera. 

The photo stopped Seungri’s grumblings towards Seunghyun, and turned it into something of a hero worship, if you constantly pressed your hero for more photos of your other hero. Jiyong thought about deterring this behavior, but Seunghyun seemed to delight in the attention and Youngbae and Daesung found the entire exchange hilarious. The two were suspicious and slightly in awe of their former source of technological cheating, and seemed to take a perverse pleasure ripping into Seunghyun during training, unswayed by Seunghyun’s puppy eyes and threats of trashing their credit scores. 

As for Jiyong, he trusted Seunghyun about as far as he could throw him. He seemed to have slipped into their group _too_ easily, seemed a little _too_ cavalier about abandoning his freedom and relative comforts of civilian life to become a soldier. (Remembering Seunghyun’s eyes from his dingy apartment, perhaps he had always been a soldier, only now he carried the official title). 

“Are you even trying?” Jiyong spat after one particularly grueling hand-to-hand sparring session. Seunghyun lay on the ground in a fetal position, dry-heaving and coughing. 

“Fuck you,” he snarled at Jiyong. “You’re the one who dragged me into this mess. I’m just tech support, why are you making me go through the secret assassin training schtick? I’m just going to end up sitting behind a computer for the rest of my life anyways.”

Jiyong snorted condescendingly. 

“What if we need you out in the field to disable a bomb, or manually hack a computer? We can’t have your dead weight slowing us down.”

Seunghyun muttered something derogatory under his breath about “manually hacking a computer, Jesus Christ, do we live in the Middle Ages?” before going still. 

“You don’t trust me,” he stated, peering up at Jiyong. 

“You’ve given me no reason to trust you,” Jiyong replied.

Seunghyun stared at him for a while, his eyes utterly blank. Then, he smiled poisonously.

“And you’ve given me such _great reasons_ to trust you Mr. Dragon? You rip me from my home, threaten me with a lifetime in the labor camps, ostensibly for my highly specialized skill set, which apparently isn’t _good enough_ for the great Dragon himself-”

Jiyong narrowly dodged a well-aimed kick towards his groin, only to wince as he felt Seungyun’s fingernails digging into his cheeks, millimeters away from his eyes. _Yes,_ Jiyong thought, _this is who you really are_. He knew Seunghyun had been holding back, balking against the regimented training of operatives. The others had assumed it was because he was a lazy, overweight, computer geek who never had a need to fight in his life. But Jiyong looked into his eyes and saw the wreckage of war. He’d also finally found Seunghyun’s citizen registry file, which he had found in Seunghyun’s computer after manually hacking it (suck it, Seunghyun).

Seunghyun fought dirty and efficiently. Jiyong half expected him to pull a switchblade out of his sleeve and gut him. Perhaps in his prime, Seunghyun could have held his own against Jiyong, but alas he _had_ grown into a lazy, overweight computer geek, and Jiyong almost felt bad at how easy it was to pummel him.

“Is this pathetic flailing how they teach you to fight in the gangs?” Jiyong taunted, feeling Seunghyun still under his chokehold. “Or were you originally just this useless? No wonder your mother sold you to the Foxes before you turned ten.”

Seunghyun froze. “You little fuck,” he ground out. “Manual hacking, eh?”

“You’ll find that I’m always right,” Jiyong said primly, keeping his arm coiled firmly around Seunghyun’s neck. “You need to understand, Seunghyun, that we’re not like the gangs. Sure some of the higher-ups are just as heartless when it comes to their personal careers, but we as a team are dedicated to each other. We have each other’s back no matter what-stop _squirming_ while I’m trying to give you a fucking pep talk-and you, whether you like it or not are part of this family now.” 

Jiyong released him. Seunghyun leveled Jiyong with an icy glare, then walked out of the training room and proceeded not to speak to Jiyong for the following month. Jiyong had always been awful at motivational speaking.

* * *

Seunghyun trained hard and worked well, integrating smoothly with Big Bang. If only he’d talk to Jiyong, their team would be perfect, Jiyong thought ruefully. Perhaps he’d gone too far that day in the training room, poked too hard at the open wounds under Seunghyun’s armor. Another part of him, one that he’d never admit out loud, actually missed Seunghyun’s presence incredibly. Though Jiyong hadn’t been a huge fan of Seunghyun’s guarded snark, it was a vast improvement from radio silence.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Yongbae asked Jiyong, cornering him after dinner. 

Jiyong shrugged in response.

“Well, fix it,” Yongbae snapped, uncharacteristically irritated. “We’re going to have to start missions soon, and at the rate we’re going someone’s going to get seriously hurt if our leader can’t communicate with a member.”

“He’s the one ignoring me,” Jiyong pointed out petulantly.

“I’m sure you deserved it,” Yongbae snorted. “You just never met people who won’t put up with your shit. Fix. It.”

Jiyong sighed. “This isn’t something I can fix. Seunghyun needs to come to me to work out his problems.”

“Jesus Christ, why are you like this? Did you even apologize?”

“Please Bae, how long have you known me? I don’t do apologies.”

Youngbae threw his hands in the air despairingly and walked away muttering under his breath.

* * *

The next night, Jiyong’s door opened just as he was about to fall asleep. He reflexively grabbed the knife tucked into the side of his bed post, then relaxed upon recognizing his intruder. Seunghyun stood in the doorway, looking at Jiyong intensely. Something swooped uncomfortably in Jiyong’s stomach under Seunghyun’s sudden scrutiny.

“I have to come to you, eh?” Seunghyun said.

“And here you are,” Jiyong replied. 

Seunghyun sighed. “I suppose I am, aren’t I?”

He stepped into the room, and set a small black disk on Jiyong’s desk. 

“When’s the last time you backed up your computer?” he asked Jiyong, fiddling with the device. 

“A few hours ago, why?” 

Seunghyun ignored him. “Any other important electrical devices with unsaved data?” 

“No? Wait hold up, is that-”

Seunghyun tapped the disk twice and Jiyong’s ears were suddenly filled with a high pitched ringing. Jiyong screeched and flailed to cover his ears. 

“Electromagnetic pulse,” Seunghyun said after the ringing cleared. “I don’t want this conversation to be overheard.” 

“Yeah, thanks for the warning,” Jiyong sniped.

Seunghyun shot him a dirty look and stood awkwardly in the middle of Jiyong’s room. After staring down Jiyong so intently earlier, he now seemed reluctant to meet his eyes. Jiyong sighed, then kicked out his desk chair.

“Sit down, you’re making me uncomfortable just looking at you.”

“Has anyone ever informed you that you’re a grade A asshole? Because you are,” Seunghyun said.

“Well, I aim to be the best at everything I do,” Jiyong replied with a cheeky grin. Seunghyun looked up and stared at Jiyong, unimpressed. He then kept on staring. At the five minute mark, Jiyong started getting uncomfortable.

“I know I’m suave and handsome, but I assume you came here to talk to me, and not just admire my everlasting beauty,” he quipped. Seunghyun snorted, finally breaking eye contact. 

“Sometimes I wonder what made you this way,” he said in a rush. “I certainly know what made me this way, and I supposed you do too now that you violated my privacy and snooped through my life.

“I didn’t really understand anything that was happening when I was a kid. They just started testing out the rationing system with some of the working class districts after I turned seven, and my mother couldn’t feed me and my sister with what the government was giving us, so she tried to get money through other ways. My sister was old enough to get a legitimate job at a factory, but I was too young to legally work. The Foxes started recruiting pretty heavily as people started struggling, and told my mother they would pay her a pretty hefty sum if she was willing to contract me to their group. They made hundreds of similar contracts with families all over the slums, but didn’t have the funds to back them up. The smart ones let their kids get taken away. My mom put up a fight when she realized what they were doing, so they shot her through the head.”

Seunghyun paused to draw a breath. Jiyong felt sick, remembering the way Seunghyun’s body had gone rigid at _your mother sold you to the gangs_.

“I learned how to code when I was at the Foxes so they wouldn’t send me out patrolling on the streets too often. When I was thirteen, the gang leader was assassinated by a government agent, probably from this very institution, and the group pretty much dissolved since then. I started doing freelance hacking and computer work, and five years later you broke into my apartment and kidnapped me.

“Frankly, I don’t trust you. You forced me into your little spy camp, and I’m making the best of my situation. When I think about it carefully, you probably ended up doing me a favor, dragging me out of the slums and into government dough, but you’re still a dick and I don’t like you. But, I adapt. It’s what I’ve done my entire life. So I’ll do your work, you’ll compensate me for my services, and if you ever refer to my past again I’ll cut off your balls and give them to Seungri. Got it?”

Jiyong nodded, unable to help the slight sting at Seunghyun’s blatant rejection. Seunghyun smiled tightly. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He was halfway out the door when Jiyong called out.

“Wait Seunghyun.”

Seunghyun paused, but didn’t turn around.

“I don’t apologize,” Jiyong began. Seunghyun snorted. “But, if I did, I would.”

“You are such an asshole, oh my _God_. And for the record, you are neither suave nor handsome.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "show, not tell" can suck my dick


	7. Chapter 7

Despite Youngbae’s prediction of a looming mission, no assignments came for several months. Jiyong was thankful, since it gave them extra time to finish whipping Seunghyun into shape, then a head start on mock missions with Seunghyun as tech backup. 

“We need to get you a codename,” Daesung declared after their first mock trial. “We can’t keep calling you Seunghyun over the comms in a real mission.”

“If G-Dragon’s already taken, I’m not sure I want an agent name,” Seunghyun quipped, kicking at Jiyong’s shins. “Besides, I could get stuck with something ridiculous, like _D-Lite_.”

Daesung staggered back dramatically. “My honor is gravely wounded, good sir, I must challenge you to a duel to the death to right this horrible wrong.”

“Bring it on, Dick-Lite.”

While they were scuffling, Seungri piped up. “How about Tempo? That was pretty much your old codename, right?”

“Do you ever think before you speak?” Jiyong sighed. “Too many people know Tempo as the underground freelance hacker. It could cause a massive scandal if we work on something domestic and the name gets out, then Seunghyun’s cover will be totally blown.”

Seunghyun shrugged. “It’s not like anyone knows the man behind Tempo. If it does get out we could probably spin it as a PR stunt, reforming former criminals and all that.”

“Why do none of you get that we are a _covert_ operations group. Meaning we do things in _secret,_ ” Jiyong said, pinching the bridge of his nose in aggravation. 

“You’re such a hypocrite Ji, with your _neon fucking head,_ ” Seunghyun grinned, ruffling Jiyong’s bright orange hair. 

“I wear a helmet, Jesus Christ,” Jiyong said exasperatedly, grabbing Seunghyun’s hands and removing them from his hair. He laced their fingers to prevent Seunghyun’s hands from wandering, noting the contrast between their nails. His own were short and bitten off, whereas Seunghyun’s looked practically manicured. _Not the best at everything apparently_ , his own voice said snidely in the back of his head. Well, Seunghyun had to beat him at something, he supposed-

“T.O.P.”

“That’s stupid as fuck,” Seunghyun laughed, nails digging playfully into the back of Jiyong’s hand. 

“Wow rude Seunghyunnie, don’t you want to be the best at something?”

“And take your spot? I’d rather marry Seungri.”

Seungri pouted, muttering “rude” under his breath.

“Well you _were_ looking to poach my name earlier if I remember correctly, so I thought I’d be kind in allowing you to have a name that should describe myself, but if you _really_ are so opposed to it-”

“You’re such a dick, Jiyong, I’ll take the stupid name before you hoard it for yourself,” Seunghyun said, rolling his eyes. 

“Well, G-Dragon the T.O.P _does_ have a nice ring to it…” Jiyong teased as Seunghyun dug an elbow into his ribs. 

Youngbae watched their interaction carefully, shooting a sly grin at Jiyong. 

“Welcome to the team, Agent T.O.P,” he said, clapping Seunghyun on the shoulder. “I think we’re ready for our first mission, don’t you?”

* * *

The first mission was a capture of an escaped prisoner. There were all manners of traps and security measures guarding the building where the prisoner was rumored to be staying, and Jiyong couldn’t help but think that this mission was a test for Seunghyun. In terms of action their target was low-level, but the levels of security they were guided through made all of them fervently thankful that they were no longer running tech backup. Seunghyun, of course, did fine.

“Was that supposed to be hard, or something?” he quipped when they got back, escapee in tow. Despite Seunghyun’s nonchalance, Jiyong could see the sweat beaded on his forehead and the slight tremor in his hands. Jiyong rolled his eyes at him, and Daesung gave him a congratulatory punch on the shoulder.

“This calls for a celebration,” Seungri announced. “T.O.P-hyung can cook!”

“Wow, its hyung when you want something out of me, huh?” Seunghyun quipped, swatting the back of Seungri’s head. “What makes you think I can cook anyways?”

“The rest of us grew up training to be assassins and spies,” Seungri stated matter-of-factly. “You’re the only one out of us who has real world experience of feeding themselves.”

“I’m pretty sure Seunghyunnie fed himself exclusively with contraband donuts,” Jiyong chuckled, waggling his eyebrows at Seunghyun. 

“You are the rudest person I have ever met,” Seunghyun sniffed haughtily. “What would all the intelligence community do if they knew the great Dragon was actually a rude little bitch baby?”

Jiyong squawked in protest as Seunghyun accepted high-fives from both Daesung and Youngbae, the traitors. 

Seunghyun did end up cooking, and Jiyong stole some donuts from the cafeteria, just to be a dick. Well, that’s what he told himself, pointedly not watching Seunghyun’s blissful expression as he ate them. Only when Seunghyun start taunting Seungri, holding the last donut far out of his reach (and conveniently right next to Jiyong’s face) did Jiyong look up, biting the donut out of Seunghyun’s hand, lips brushing his fingertips. 

He was met with Seunghyun’s shocked, betrayed stare, coupled with a scandalized “Jiyong that was _mine,_ ” but all he could think about was the way Seunghyun’s ears pinkened and how much he wanted to _bite-_ wait nononononono. And the realization came crashing down on Jiyong all at once, as he mustered up a crafty smile, which, admittedly looked weak reflected in Seunghyun’s dark eyes. Then, Seunghyun rolled his eyes and smiled affectionately, and Jiyong’s heart clenched. Somehow, unbeknownst to himself, he had fallen in love with Choi Seunghyun. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry jiyong's realization is kind of rushed, will probably end up extending total chapter count by a few to let the relationship develop a bit more


End file.
